The Rise of the Novel: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 14 questionsAcademicmedium
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About this passage
The passage opens: “The novel, a long work of prose fiction telling the story of imagined characters, is so central to modern reading that it can be hard to remember it is a comparatively recent form. For most of literary history, the dominant forms were poetry and drama, and prose tales tended to deal with heroes, myths and romances…”
- Passage length: about 704 words
- Questions: 14
- Question types: True / False / Not Given, Multiple Choice, Short Answer
“The Rise of the Novel” is an original IELTS-style practice passage written by IELTS-Bank. It is not taken from an official IELTS or Cambridge test, so these answers only apply to our version.
Answer key at a glance
The Rise of the Novel answers with explanations
Questions 1–6: True / False / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.
- 1
For most of literary history, poetry and drama were more dominant than prose fiction.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 1 “For most of literary history, the dominant forms were poetry and drama, and prose tales tended to deal with heroes, myths and romances.”
- 2
The spread of printing made books more expensive and harder to obtain.
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Answer: FALSE
Why: This sentence directly contradicts the statement, so the answer is FALSE.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “The spread of printing had gradually reduced the cost of books and increased their availability.”
- 3
Early novels focused on the fantastic adventures of legendary heroes.
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Answer: FALSE
Why: This sentence directly contradicts the statement, so the answer is FALSE.
Evidence · Paragraph 3 “Rather than recounting the fantastic adventures of legendary figures, they told stories about characters who resembled the readers themselves, placed in recognisable everyday settings.”
- 4
Some critics worried that novels gave readers unrealistic expectations.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 5 “…fearing that they filled the heads of readers, particularly young and female readers, with unrealistic expectations and idle fantasies.”
- 5
Novels published in instalments were more profitable than those published all at once.
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Answer: NOT GIVEN
Why: The statement claims that novels published in instalments were more profitable, but the passage does not confirm or deny this, only mentioning that instalments created suspense and allowed authors to adjust their plots.
- 6
By the nineteenth century the novel had become the dominant literary form.
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Answer: TRUE
Why: This sentence confirms the statement, so the answer is TRUE.
Evidence · Paragraph 7 “By the nineteenth century the novel had become the dominant literary form of the age, and some of its practitioners achieved enormous fame and popularity.”
Question 7: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. the decline of the middle class
- B. the growth of a prosperous middle class with leisure to read
- C. the closing of printing houses
- D. the disappearance of poetry
- 7
Which social change helped create a market for novels?
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Answer: B — the growth of a prosperous middle class with leisure to read
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — the growth of a prosperous middle class with leisure to read.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “…a growing and increasingly prosperous middle class provided a new body of readers with the leisure and money to buy books for entertainment.”
Question 8: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. its use of legendary heroes
- B. its focus on fantastic adventures
- C. its concern with individual experience and a convincing picture of society
- D. its rejection of everyday settings
- 8
What gave the new form its distinctive realism?
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Answer: C — its concern with individual experience and a convincing picture of society
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports C — its concern with individual experience and a convincing picture of society.
Evidence · Paragraph 3 “This concern with individual experience and with a convincing picture of society gave the new form its distinctive realism.”
Question 9: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. to reduce the length of their novels
- B. so that readers would be eager to buy the next one
- C. to avoid criticism from moralists
- D. because printing was expensive
- 9
Why did authors often end an instalment at a moment of suspense?
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Answer: B — so that readers would be eager to buy the next one
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports B — so that readers would be eager to buy the next one.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “This method of publication encouraged authors to end each instalment at a moment of suspense, so that readers would be eager to buy the next one.”
Question 10: Multiple Choice
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
- A. to teach foreign languages
- B. to record historical dates
- C. to comment on the injustices and problems of their time
- D. to replace poetry entirely
- 10
Besides entertaining, what else did writers use the novel to do?
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Answer: C — to comment on the injustices and problems of their time
Why: This is the part of the passage that supports C — to comment on the injustices and problems of their time.
Evidence · Paragraph 7 “Writers used the novel to entertain, but also to comment on the injustices and problems of their time, and some works helped to shape public opinion.”
Questions 11–14: Short Answer
Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 11
Rising literacy among which group especially expanded the readership?(max 2 words)
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Answer: women
Why: The answer “women” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 2 “Rising levels of literacy, especially among women, expanded this readership further.”
- 12
Some early novels were written as a series of what exchanged between characters?(max 2 words)
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Answer: letters
Why: The answer “letters” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 4 “Some were written as a series of letters exchanged between characters.”
- 13
Many novels were published not all at once but in what form?(max 2 words)
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Answer: instalments (also accepted: in instalments)
Why: The answer “instalments” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 6 “Many were published not all at once but in instalments, appearing chapter by chapter over a period of weeks or months.”
- 14
A novel is described as a long work of prose in which category of writing?(max 2 words)
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Answer: fiction (also accepted: prose fiction)
Why: The answer “fiction” is taken from this sentence — copy the word(s) exactly as they appear. It fits the 2-word limit.
Evidence · Paragraph 1 “The novel, a long work of prose fiction telling the story of imagined characters.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 14 scaled to the 40-question IELTS Reading (Academic) conversion table. This is the same estimate the practice page shows after you submit. A single passage is a small sample, so treat it as a guide.
| Correct answers | Estimated band |
|---|---|
| 14 / 14 | 9.0 |
| 13 / 14 | 8.5 |
| 12 / 14 | 7.5 |
| 11 / 14 | 7.0 |
| 10 / 14 | 6.5 |
| 8–9 / 14 | 6.0 |
| 7 / 14 | 5.5 |
| 6 / 14 | 5.0 |
| 5 / 14 | 4.5 |
| 4 / 14 | 4.0 |
| 3 / 14 | 3.5 |
| 2 / 14 | 3.0 |
| 1 / 14 | 2.0 |
| 0 / 14 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
True / False / Not Given
- Read the statement first and underline the key idea, especially any qualifiers like "all", "only", "never", "always", "more than" or dates and numbers.
- Because the questions follow the order of the passage, scan for the paragraph that deals with the same topic rather than re-reading everything.
Common trap: Confusing "False" with "Not Given": choose False only when the passage actively contradicts the statement; if the passage is silent, it is Not Given.
Full True / False / Not Given strategyMultiple Choice
- Read the question stem carefully before the options so you know exactly what is being asked.
- Because multiple-choice questions follow passage order, locate the relevant section and read it in full — the answer usually depends on more than one sentence.
Common trap: Distractors that use exact words from the passage but distort the meaning.
Full Multiple Choice strategyShort Answer
- Read the instructions and note the exact word limit; going over it means zero marks even if the meaning is right.
- Turn each question into a set of keywords and predict what kind of answer it needs (a person, a date, a place, a noun).
Common trap: Exceeding the word limit (writing four words when only three are allowed).
Full Short Answer strategyPractise “The Rise of the Novel” under exam conditions
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